this morning on "early today" -- new congress, new reality. republicans take over the house and take aim at the president's health care reform. the mystery deepens. more dead birds fall out of the sky. this time in louisiana. and don't try this at home. a bunch of amateurs jump into a colombian bull ring in a 150-year-old tradition. captions paid for by nbc-universal television morning to you. welcome to our viewers across the nation, including the pick time zone. i'm veronica de la cruz. today we begin with opening day.

the 112th u.s. congress will be sworn in today. with a new gop leadership in the house already vowing to repeal the nation's new health care law, the stage is already set for a showdown on capitol hill. nbc's steve handelsman reports from washington. >> reporter: on her last day as speaker of the house -- >> we pledge to work together with our republican colleagues. >> reporter: democrat nancy pelosi promised to fight republicans on health care. >> we will work to ensure that children with pre-existing conditions can continue to get coverage. >> reporter: republicans claim the democrats bill is so expensive, it's keeping employers from hiring. >> we're going to fight as hard as we can to make certain we end the job killing policies that were put in place over the past two to four years. one of those was obama care. >> reporter: democrats claim the law is boosting the hiring of health care workers by 13%. >> i mean, the job-killing rhetoric is such garbage. every minute that the republicans spend fruitlessly trying to reform health care is

one less minute they're spending on job creation. >> reporter: fruitless efforts? repeal probably can't pass the senate. president obama would veto it. >> we're not going to repeal health care. >> reporter: but incoming house republicans like car dealer mike kelly want to try. >> that bill makes no sense to anybody in america. the greatest majority of americans want to say let's run from it. >> reporter: on his way back from hawaii, president obama charged, repeal is a political ploy to help republicans run for office. >> there will be plenty of time to campaign for 2012 in 2012. and our job this year is to make sure we built on recovery. >> reporter: but first to fight for health care. i'm steve handlesman, nbc news, capitol hill. captain owen honors was relieved of his command tuesday of the "uss enterprise" and reassigned of other duties over a scandal while he served in his command.

in a news conference, the navy explained the firing saying honors showed a failed lack of good judgment and professionalism when making videos containing simulated sex acts and gay bashing. the navy is continuing to investigate including the actions of other senior officers who knew about the videos and what action was taken in response. a federal court in san diego has ruled that a san diego memorial is unconstitutional. the court called the cross "a government endorsement of religion," but stopped short of calling for its removal. the unanimous ruling is the latest battle on behalf of a decade-long war battle. >> now here's a look at other stories making news early today in america -- in california, four burglary suspects are in custody after leading police on an hour-long chase, topping speeds of up to 100 miles per hour. the pursuit began after a woman called police to report a home

invasion. patrol vehicles eventually spun the suv to a halt. the suspects got out and ran but were quickly apprehended. new york city is normally high brow lincoln center turned into a mosh pit as 1,000 punk rock fans smashed and crashed into each other at a free concert. things got out of hand when a group of 100 people rushed the stage. so producers pulled the plug. some fans say they feared for their lives. others said officials overreacted. and a nevada cultural phenomenon has been cut down by vandals. the shoe tree, a 70-foot cottonwood tree filled with dangling shoes, boot it's and sneakers, has been a popular stopping point for travellers for decades. ruthered, an angry man tossed his wife's shoes following a bad gamble in reno. hmm. now for a look at your national and regional weather, here is nbc meteorologist bill karins with the weather channel forecast. bill, why would you do such a thing? people love that tree. >> yeah. i don't know why.

who would cut it down? i mean -- i don't know why people put up shoes in trees anyway. >> good question. >> two different questions. let's talk about what's happening out west. good morning, everyone. temperatures chilly. a storm system moving into the pick northwest and in the southwest where it's been chilly we're going to start our warm-up. not quite yet. vegas at 33 this morning. at 30 in medford. here's the next storm system. the majority of the storm is going up into kand d. enough of it is clipping here, washington state especially, portland northwards up from oregon you'll get hit. notice the clear skies and the cool temperatures over the areas of the four corners back into southern california. that's this area of high pressure. this warm front coming onshore will warm you up a little bit as you go throughout the day, bit it's going to be rain around probably from today through friday, at least, in the pacific northwest. you can see our chunk of rain has now moved in mixing with some snow. even some of the lower elevations. look out the window, you may see snowflakes. warmer air comes in during the day.

everything that was snow changes to range anyway. no real significant accumulations expected in any cities up interstate 5. how we'll look as far as rainfall totals are concerned'sthe highest total is north of seattle. impressive rain up in the northern cascades. possibility of two to four inches of rain. so we'll keep you updated on that. as far as the rest of forecast, not bad in l.a. san francisco, you look nice too. th even with sunshine. washington, a light snow is heading your way. we'll update you on thursday's forecast coming up. >> all right, bill. sounds good. early morning business headlines are straight ahead. plus, the worst selling

person on magazine covers. now even nor sing the blues about. coming up, a hands-on approach it beat the heat. a wild karim on the ice and a finish to the sugar bowl. you're watching "early today."

good morning, and welcome back to "early today." i'm veronica de la cruz. here are some of your top headlines this morning -- just a few days after some 5,000 black birds fell from the sky in arkansas, another 500 of them have dropped to their death in louisiana. it's unclear if the two cases are related. state officials speculate power line along the highways the birds were found could be involved. venezuela's eccentric president hugo chavez vows to end a diplomatic standoff by suggesting it name bill clinton, sean penn to its latest ambassador.

and a tit for tat rejection of expulsion of a sitting ambassador. philippine police say this chilling photograph helped them capture a gunman accused of killing a local politician. the image, which was taken by the victim himself, shows a man aiming his gun straight at the camera seconds before the assassin pulled the trigger. and two words that probably should not go together, amateur and bullfight. however, that's what happens every january in colombia when hundreds of amateurs risk their lives by jumping into an arena with a 1,000-pound animal. this year local media says 48 people were hurt during the week-long event. >> and now here's an early look at one of your top health headlines on msnbc.com. a new study suggests women who in sweden who have their uterus

removed for something other than cancer may be at great irrick for suffering from a heart attack or stroke. researcher estopped short of saying that taking out either the uterus or the ovaries can actually cause cardiovascular disease. for more information on this and other health stories, you can always head to the web and check out the health page. it is msnbc.com. vagisil, with odor block. the confident clean. and now here's an early look at how wall street will kick off the day -- the dow opens at 11,961 after gaining 20 points yesterday. the s&p shed 1 point and the nasdaq lost 10. taking a look at overseas trading this morning, in tokyo, the nikkei dipped 17 points and hong kong, the hang seng added 9. 89. no longer desperate for economic news traders have become picky, picky, picky. business orders for factory

goods unexpectedly dumped in november. aircraft and auto orders jumped 2.4%, the largest just in eight months. also -- auto sales rose last year for the first time since the recession. gm rose over 2%. after reporting u.s. sales rose more than 6% last year. ford edged up after reporting 15% in 2010. even chrysler got 24 on the act reporting sales rose 17% last year. investors focused on dumping red hot commodity shares as copper, oil and other commodities slipped from multiyear highs. oil in particular finished sharply lower after rising to a 26-month high with investors taking profits on concern the price of crude has climbed too high, too fast. all that combined with market fears, one brokerage suggested investors cut holdings predicting rising food costs will crimp margins. super value dropped more than

6%, safeway almost 4% and whole foods lost more than 3%. traders also chewed over the latest gloominess from the fete minutes from december's policy meeting. they warned weren't enough to cut back its $600 billion bond buying program. and ryan lee can thank the nation's capital for extra time to file. during the district of colombia observing a holiday, taxpayers this year will have until midnight on monday the 18th. well, the heat can't be beat. the knicks dominate and sometimes it is better to be lucky than good. plus, last night in a closely contested sugar bowl, things got complex between ohio state and arkansas in the big easy. your early morning sports headlines are just ahead. today's weather highlights include rain in the gulf coast, rain in the pacific northwest and cold air in the great lakes. your forecast is coming up 37 you're watching "early today."

well, good morning. if you're just waking up, this is "early today." in sports, last night's game between ohio state and arkansas coming down to the final seconds, as you might imagine for football fans, this sugar bowl was pretty sweet. here's nbc's fred roggin with an early look at all your sports headlines. good morning.

this has been a rough bowl season for the big ten conference. after five embarrassing losses on new year's day, the ohio state buckeyes salvaged some pride with a throwing win in the sugar bowl. taking on arkansas, ohio state was rolling in the first half, terrelle pryor to posey. a 43-yard strike. buckeyes up 28-10 at the break. arkansas snapped out of it in the second half. razorbacks cut the lead to 10. arkansas cut the block in the final minutes and had perfect field position for the go ahead score. picked off, and that's your ball game. ohio state held on to win the sugar bowl, 31-26. texas rangers couldn't land cliff lead, so they broke the bank on adrian beltre. he signed a deal with the rangers. basketball to the garden, the knicks pulled off another impressive win. chandler led with a season high 31 against the spurs. felton knocked down a 3 late in the game to give the knicks the lead.

knicks handed the spurs just their fifth loss of the season, 128-115. every team is trying to find a way to stop the red hot heat. the bucs' coach decided to do it himself. bottom of your screen. he walked on to the court and bumped royal as he was shooting. you can't do that. he was given a technical foul. back to the drawing board for the bucs. they had no answer for dwyane wade. he had 34. heat won it, 101-89. now to new jersey for one of the craziest careens you'll ever see. the puck is dumped into the zone, hit a player, heads towards the net and in. the goalie was caught out of position and the shot was in. to make matters even worse for the devils, that goal was the eventual game winner. that's your early look at sports on "early today." i'm fred roggin. >> well, lindsay lohan may be out for now, but someone wants her to go back to jail. your early morning entertainment headlines are straight ahead. plus, even if you know

you're never going to win it, is it worth a couple bucks just to be able to imagine, "what if?" you're watching "early today."

welcome back. once again you need the umbrella this morning anywhere from coastal washington state to oregon as rain moves inspreading through the washington state and oregon going through the dpap es special lit mountains. cold enough in the passes you'll

deal with heavy snow, too. be careful during the day today actually on your morning commute. further to the south, plenty of sunshine but a cold day. even with the sun, only 51 in vegas. we'll start a little warming trend here. not a fast warming trend, but it will slowly warm up through the end the week. 67 tomorrow in l.a. still showers in seattle. today's the wettest of the days. if you're watching on news channel 8, portland, oregon see african-american murals from around the country and by local artists as walls of heritage, walls of pride. that's the oregon historical society, and that's your pick event of the day, veronica. >> thanks, bill. now here's a look at this morning's headlines in entertainment. it looks like taylor swift is going to be writing another break-up ballot. according to sources, "us magazine" reports jake jillen hall and the country singer have hended their brief romance. the pair called it quits just before new year's eve and rang in the new year separately. after a two-week

investigation, california's county sheriff will recommend lindsay lohan be charged with battery for last month the run-in way betty ford technician. details will be sent to the l.a. county probation department this week. a beverly hills judge said lohan will be jailed if she violates probation. finally, later this month, courtney love makes history, probably not the kind she wants. last year, she hurled a stream of insults against a fashion designer she owed money to. now a divest in a first high pry foale defamation trial over celebrity comments on twitter. it is a whole new world out there. >> doesn't matter, even if you do it in the magazine, newspaper or twitter. >> get on the twitter party. >> i will. >> send me a tweet. i'll let you know what they say, bill. >> you have to explain it to me. >> we welcome you.

a winner, shut down lotteries norm's website after last night's $355 million drawing. sure, the odds are against you. 1 in 176 million, but with even a tiny chance, hey, it's nice to dream. right? well, for all but a few of you the dream is now over. it turns out there were two winners. one in idaho, one in washington state. none here in new york city. bill karins, not your -- >> amazing, over 60 people had all but one number even. there was a -- they won a quarter million each. they did all right, too. >> not bad. i'll take it. i'm veronica de la cruz, and this is "early today," just your first stop of the day today on your nbc station.

one annual tradition in china offers up a true winter wonderland. at the snow and ice festival, over 9 million pounds of ice will be used to create sculptures that will attract visitors from around the globe into january. in addition to seeing famous buildings, places and people, visitors can take part in various winter sports. zookeepers in london are taking on a task of almost biblical proportions, you could say. they're counting all of the animals living within the zoo. it's not quite noah's ark, but the annual count of over 16,000 creatures takes three weeks. it's not an easy task, but with a little persuasion, zookeepers get the final head count on

everything from camels to creepy crawlers. and to japanese seafood lovers -- freshness is key. that's why today's blue fin tuna is being enjoyed by fans. the 750 pound fish sold in tokyo for just under $400,000. wow. a hong kong sushi chain and high end japanese restaurant won the bid jointly and immediately offered up the tuna to customers at -- get this -- one slice, which would set you back about 50 bucks. what do you say, bill karins? >> do you think they would frown upon me if i asked for it tempora style? >> they wouldn't, but i would. time now for an early look at some of the stories we'll follow throughout the day here on nbc -- in new york city, dr. nancy snyderman will be on hand to talk about the health benefits of getting the recommended amount of rest at the sleep to live institute's 2011 sleep summit. in washington, maryland democrat barbara mikulski will

make history when she returns to capitol hill this morning. mikulski will be sworn in for her fifth term as u.s. senator, making her the longest serving female senator in u.s. history. and happy birthday to actress diane keaton who turns 65 years old today. happy birthday to her. all day long, you can stay on top of the very latest developments in those stories and others as they break on msnbc. tonight be sure to watch brian williams with nbc "nightly news." and, finally, here's a look at what's coming up later this morning on the "today" show. the latest details on what to expect from the new session of congress. and the former ceo of anheuser-busch breaks his silence after the mysterious death of his girlfriend found inside his mansion. now keep it on this channel for continuing local news, weather, sports and more. i'm veronica de la cruz. thank you so much for watching "early today," just your further stop of the day today on your nbc station. have a terrific wednesday. -- captions by vitac -- www.vitac.com